


Secrets of Blood

by kittyface27



Category: One Piece
Genre: Anime, Drama, One Piece - Freeform, Strawhat Pirates - Freeform, Supernatural - Freeform, Zoro - Freeform, keep it a secret, nico robin - Freeform, secret, slight angst, vampire, vampire monkey d luffy, zolu
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-20
Updated: 2018-08-01
Packaged: 2019-04-05 05:46:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 21,637
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14037486
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kittyface27/pseuds/kittyface27
Summary: What happened to Luffy on that island? He came back seriously injured... but something is different. Can Zoro and Robin help him through this terrifying change? What will the crew think if they find out about it? It's only a matter of time before their secret is no longer a secret...





	1. Blood Loss

**Author's Note:**

> This chapter is pretty short. It's also my first fanfiction! I don't own One Piece  
> Enjoy~

Chapter 1

Luffy casually walked down the street, trying his best to resist the smell of food that vendors were selling on the sides of the brick walkway, connecting one side of the small town to the other. Though he was relaxed, he stayed aware of his surroundings; there had been many scuffles involving violent pirates and bandits and it was night time. He hated bandits, especially mountain bandits. 

As he passed one of the many dark alleys, he saw a woman being harrassed by multiple men, who were obviously not good guys. He slowly walked towards the alley. Before getting half way down to the group, he used his gomu gomu pistol and knocked them out. Little did he know he was being watched, since he had not awakened his haki yet. 

The watchers were on the roof of the buildings that created the walls in the alley. The woman thanked him, and ran from the alley, giving him a smile. He began walking back the way he had came when a teenage girl suddenly fell out of the sky. “A mystery person!” Luffy thought, excited that he saw someone fall from the sky.

“Hey, you're pretty strong aren’t you? Why don’t you join me?”

“No, I have no reason to join you,” Luffy said. “I have to get back to my crew.” He dismissed the Mystery girl and started to walk away. This conversation felt oddly similar to a conversation he had long ago with Nami, only this time he was tackled to the ground, landing on his stomach. Usually this girl wouldn't have been a problem at all, he would have shaken her off, but she was oddly strong, and Luffy couldn't do anything.

“Oh really? How would your crew feel when they saw what I’m going to do to you? Since you don’t want to join, I’ll make you want to.” She then laughed cruelly, pushing Luffy down on the concrete harder, squishing his torso. He started to feel fear bubble up his gut. Fear he felt was irrational.

“Wh - what do you mean?” he asked, wanting to know but was surprisingly afraid of the answer. The girl twisted his head to the side and stabbed him with two pointy things, not being able to turn his head and see, Luffy wasn’t able to realize they were the girl’s teeth. Luffy couldn’t figure out what was happening, only that he was getting dizzy and light headed, and feeling extremely weak. He was so out of it, he didn't realize he was being rolled onto his back and his mouth forced open. Something nasty slid down his throat. He then blacked out and wasn’t able to hear someone run down the alley, the pressure of the Mystery girl suddenly jumping off before Zoro could even see her.

“Oi, Luffy! What the hell are you doing here? We’re supposed to be back at the Sun- whoa! Luffy, what’s wrong?” Zoro didn't notice the two small holes on Luffy's neck closing until they couldn't be seen anymore, like the whole thing never happened.

When Luffy didn't respond, Zoro picked him up and hurried as fast as he could to the Sunny, to Chopper. 

 

Zoro didn't get lost, his instincts and concern overriding his terrible sense of direction. He called for Robin, who was watching the Sunny at the moment, asking her once she bloomed an eye and ear near Zoro on the surface of the wood. 

“Something is wrong with Luffy,” was all he needed to say before a ladder of arms appeared, gently bringing Luffy over the side of the ship and on to the deck as Zoro hurried up the ladder, Robin’s arms disappearing. 

Zoro ran to the infirmary, hoping Chopper was still there like he was before the rest of the crew, besides Robin and Franky, had left onto the island. Luckily Chopper was sitting at his desk, creating some Rumble Balls. Once he heard the door slam and saw the expression on Zoro’s face, he knew something was wrong, and before Zoro could explain Chopper had grabbed his blue backpack with the emergency supplies for quick treatment and ran out the door, Zoro following, and saw Luffy laying in Robin’s arms, white as a sheet. He began to examine Luffy.

“He has extreme blood loss… Zoro, when and how did you find him?” Chopper asked quickly, using his stethoscope to hear Luffy’s sluggish heart beat at the same time.

“I found him knocked out in an alley around 20 minutes ago. I ran here. But, there was no blood, so how does he have blood loss?” Zoro questioned the small reindeer. 

“Good question… We’ll just have to ask him when he wakes up. He should be fine, luckily we have some of his rare blood type. I hope we have enough. We’re almost out… But with what we have, I can do a transfusion since he has anemia.” He turned into Heavy Point and gently rushed Luffy to the infirmary, going into doctor mode as he gave Luffy a blood transfusion. Zoro followed after with Robin right behind him. He ran his hands through his spiky green hair, trying his best to figure out this strange situation. 

Luffy woke around an hour later, noticing Zoro sleeping in the corner. His mind was a little foggy and he felt dizzy. “Zoro.”

Zoro immediately woke up. “Hey, how you feeling?” he questioned nervously. 

“Mmm… tired. What happened?” Luffy asked, his voice slurring a bit.

“We should be asking you that, Captain-san,” Robin said, walking into the infirmary before Zoro could answer. He let it go this time. Usually he would have said something about Robin cutting him off.

“I don’t remember. This girl was talking to me and then I forget the rest… I remember hurting… somewhere,” Luffy trailed off. “I’m hungry,” he then predictably stated. 

“The rest of the crew have arrived, so I will go ask Cook-san to bring some food for you,” said Robin as she left the room. 

Not long after, Sanji walked in with some meat. For once, Luffy’s mouth didn’t water. Sanji handed the plate to him and left. After the door shut, Luffy was alone to eat, since Zoro had told him he was going to go lift some weights in the crow’s nest. He bit into the steak and immediately spat it out.

“This tastes disgusting!”


	2. Sense of Taste and Breathless Sleep

**Sorry about the short chapter again. They do get longer, I promise. When the chapters are short, I'll post a new one every other day. This chapter is the start of keeping the secret. Enjoy~**

Chapter 2

Luffy got up, which would anger Chopper if he knew, and walked to the door, planning to tell Sanji he wanted some different food, but once one foot went out the door and into the sun, he felt searing pain. He pulled his foot up into his hands and jumped up and down, screaming obscenities from the pain. He sat down on the bed and looked at his foot; it was red and had a bubbling burn with a streak of normal skin in the middle, the outline of his sandal strap. He stared at it, very confused. It healed quickly, leaving a almost completely unnoticeable pink scar. " _Well that was weird."_  He decided to nap for a little while, thinking this was a dream, and he'd wake up if he slept again.

By the time he was woken up by Usopp, it was dark outside, obviously time for dinner, but Luffy wasn't hungry for the first time ever. He walked to the kitchen, thinking he had had a weird dream, not yet noticing yet that the scar was still on his foot, though it was faded even more than before, almost invisible.

Large plates of food were set on the table, and the smell was so strong he couldn't think of anything else, not hearing his crewmates asking how he was feeling. Zoro looked Luffy up and down, seeing if he was ok when he noticed the faded mark on Luffy's foot. He questioned Luffy about it, gaining his and the rest of the crew's attention.

Luffy looked down and his eyes widened in surprise. It hadn't been a dream, like he thought and hoped it had been. He looked up, for once mastering a lie and a convincing face, saying he didn't know where it came from. He said that it might be a rash of some sort, a smart lie for someone like Luffy. Everyone knew Luffy couldn't lie to save his life, so they believed him; all except Zoro whose eyes narrowed a tiny bit. Something wasn't right with his captain.

Luffy decided not to tell his crew mates about the extreme sunburn from earlier; they would worry, and he hated his friends being worried about him since they usually all went overboard with their concern. Luffy sat in his usual seat, across the table from Zoro. He bit into the meat set in front of him, he had never tasted anything so bad. It felt like his taste buds would die. He spit it into his napkin, surprising everyone in the room, all except Zoro. Now he was even more convinced something was wrong with Luffy.

"Hey, shitty captain, is there something wrong with my food?" Sanji asked hotly, though he himself was a tiny bit worried; Luffy loved this recipe for his beloved meat.

 _Crap._  He had made a mistake. His crew were already starting to worry. He began to lie again, as well as he had a few minutes ago.

"Sorry, I just need some water," he lied, taking a sip of his drink, which also tasted gross, but he didn't show the disgust. " _What's wrong with me?"_

He was surprised he could convince his crew so easily that everything was alright. For the rest of the meal, Luffy hid the horrible tastes assaulting him from his expression. Surprisingly the smell was delicious, which confused and annoyed him.

After the meal, dessert was served: chocolate ice cream with chocolate sauce on top. He was overjoyed that it tasted as good as it always had before this weird phenomenon. The crew was a bit disgusted with how messy Luffy was with the food, and even more than usual. He even used his finger to eat the residue of the ice cream, mostly smearing it around his face. The only one to laugh was Franky. No one understood why he found this nasty act funny.

"Sanji! Seconds!" Luffy shouted, happily thrusting his empty bowl in the air with a grin. Sanji of course refused, making Luffy pout and pester him even more. Sanji eventually kicked him out onto the grassy deck. Luffy was suddenly tired, and decided to relax in the breeze for just a moment, but then fell asleep.

Zoro came out of the kitchen after drinking a bottle of sake but was not drunk at all. He saw Luffy sleeping peacefully on the deck, surprisingly not snoring. Planning on waking Luffy up to go sleep in his bunk, Zoro noticed Luffy's chest wasn't moving; he wasn't breathing. Zoro ran over to him and felt his pulse. Nothing. There was no pulse! He began CPR, just starting to panic when the first compression woke Luffy up, who started breathing again. To say Zoro was confused and relieved was an understatement.

"Zoro, why are you pushing on my chest? You're weird. Ah! I fell asleep. I guess I should go to bed now," he told Zoro sleepily. He got up, leaving Zoro still on his knees, eyes wide and dumbstruck. Now he was absolutely 100% positive that something was wrong with his captain and friend, something  _very_ wrong.

He followed Luffy to the empty bunks (everyone else was still in the kitchen talking and looking at one of Franky's new inventions to improve the ship in some way; Zoro hadn't cared). He chose to sleep in Usopp's bunk next to Luffy, who was already asleep, and was  _not breathing again._  He knew Luffy didn't know this was happening, and just last night he had been breathing fine. Zoro eventually fell asleep after watching Luffy twitch his head minutely in bed, assuring him that yes, Luffy was alive.

When Luffy woke up, he found it strange that Zoro was in Usopp's bunk. It was also weird that he woke up so early it was still dark. Zoro cracked an eye as Luffy left the room, yawning and then sighing. " _So he breathes while he's awake, but not asleep? What the hell is going on?"_

**Hope you liked it and are excited for the next chapter! Read and review please.**


	3. What's Wrong With Luffy?

Hay, chapter 3 is up! Part of this chapter that is my fav is when Sanji does what he does. So dramatic! Gotta love Zoro though. Such a good friend.

Enjoy~

It had been a day since they left the island that left Luffy different in some way. Luffy knew something was different, and he didn't like it. His food still tasted rancid, all except chocolate, which he snuck from everyone's (Usopp and Chopper's) candy stashes. It was quite obvious who it was, since Luffy was now obsessive about chocolate. He even punched Sanji when he refused him desert, which pissed Sanji off so much he kicked Luffy in the side, throwing him out onto the deck once again, thankfully the sun was down. He hadn't gotten burned again, but for some reason Luffy was afraid of the light and going outside. The crew noticed this.

Zoro was the only one who had been expecting strange behavior. He had been keeping an eye on Luffy, and didn't miss that after every meal, Luffy would run to the bathroom after slowly and casually walking out of the kitchen and throw up the food he ate. It was strange that Luffy hadn't looked bothered by this; no dark circles under his eyes, or losing weight.

The crew gathered on the deck across from the entrance to the interior of the ship, where Luffy was, watching the fish in the aquarium. If he was too scared to go outside in the sunlight and see the sea, then he would stay in there and pretend he was looking at the it from below. Too bad no sea kings could fit in the tank.

Nami had been the one who asked for a crew conference to discuss their concern for their captain. Zoro was the only one not standing tensely. He was leaning against the railing, like he does when he naps. He felt like he didn't need to be part of this conversation in the first place, thinking he'd noticed all the changes by himself already. Robin looked at him strangely. Zoro should be very concerned, although he was good at hiding his emotions.

"I think something is wrong. He looks sick all the time. He eats, but not as enthusiastically. And Sanji's food still tastes great," Nami said.

"Nami-swan is so beautiful when she compliments my food!"

"And why is he so obsessed with chocolate?" Usopp asked in a deadpan voice. "It's weird. He's always liked sweets, but this is ridiculous." The others nodded. It was indeed ridiculous.

"And he rarely comes outside anymore, at least in the day. Should Chopper maybe check his eyes? Maybe the light is bothering him," Franky offered.

Zoro was the only person not contributing to the conversation. He didn't mention the biggest problem, which was the breathing stopping, and Luffy's heart not beating. If Luffy didn't want to tell them what was wrong, it was his choice and Zoro wouldn't say anything, although part of him thought Luffy himself hadn't even noticed anything was different…

"He doesn't even come out to play with us anymore!" Chopper cried loudly. The group shushed him, even though they were in a completely different part of the ship from where Luffy was.

"At least he plays with you guys inside, so something is the same," Sanji added to the conversation.

Robin looked over to Zoro who was sitting against the wall. "Swordsman-san, have you noticed anything strange?" Zoro replied that no, he hadn't noticed anything other than what they had already said. Robin narrowed her eyes, slightly suspicious. " _He's a convincing liar,"_ she thought. But she didn't pry; she would watch over how Zoro and Luffy were acting without anyone noticing, especially not Zoro.

Luffy continued to throw up his food, which was getting old quickly. He'd rather just not eat, since losing the food seemed to not be hurting him in any way, but again, he didn't want his crew to know. Chopper would obsess about examining him and Sanji would be furious about the waste of food. He also knew his crew was noticing his strange behavior, especially how he never went outside anymore except to go to bed at night. Around two days after the crew's conversation, all the lying caught up to him in one act.

Luffy was pestering Sanji again for chocolate, which Sanji had locked away an a box in the refrigerator, much to Luffy's dismay. It was day time, and Luffy was craving food. It was actually quite boring staying inside, but he had an irrational fear of sunlight that turned out to not be as irrational as Luffy had been convinced.

Sanji was becoming irritated fast and went to kick Luffy out, but before he could land a kick, Luffy dodged and screamed at Sanji not to send him outside. Sanji wasn't listening and continued to kick at Luffy, missing the teen by inches, until one kick landed and slammed him through the door to the outside. Instantly, Luffy blacked out. The sun was too much.

Zoro was napping against the railing on the grassy deck when he heard Luffy screaming at something, and then saw him flying out of the kitchen. When he hit the ground, his skin turned red and started to smoke. For a few seconds, Zoro thought Luffy was in gear second, but then he realized something else was wrong. He leapt to his feet and ran to Luffy, who was unconscious but this time breathing heavily, his skin burning red. Zoro picked him up bridal style and ran into the interior of the ship, choosing to enter the aquarium.

Luffy moaned in pain as the burns on his face, arms, and legs sizzled. Zoro set him down on the cushiony couch surrounding the room. The burns suddenly started to heal, surprising Zoro. There were still pink splotches where the sunlight had touched Luffy, like the "rash" on his foot the other day. No wonder he was so afraid to go outside. Zoro sighed angrily. He wanted to cut Sanji in pieces for doing this to his captain, but Sanji would then be notified to the fact that something was more wrong with Luffy then he thought.

Zoro hadn't known Robin had bloomed an eye and ear into the glass fish tank, watching the whole scene.

Zoro sat with Luffy while he was still asleep, not breathing again. He was hoping no one would go looking for them, at least not until Luffy was breathing again and the burn marks faded completely. It took about half an hour for Luffy to wake up, the marks finally gone. He was groggy and confused about how he got in the aquarium; he last remembered Sanji literally kicking him out of the kitchen.

"Hey, Luffy. How you feeling?" Zoro asked, trying to keep the worried expression off his face. Luffy saw it despite Zoro's efforts.

"Sorry…" was all Luffy said. This surprised Zoro.

"For what?"

"I made you worry and probably freaked you out…" Luffy said quietly, sounding guilty.

Zoro's eyes softened a little. "You didn't do anything wrong. Besides, I already knew something was off. You don't breathe when you sleep, you don't have a heartbeat and then there's the whole throwing up your food thing. Not to mention the chocolate and now not being able to be in the sunlight. Do I look freaked out to you?" No, he didn't look freaked out.

"What?" Luffy shouted as he felt his neck with two fingers. He noticed his heartbeat was gone. "That's freaky…" Zoro felt for him. It must be scary, and Luffy rarely got scared. Neither of them made any sort of connection to what the symptoms might have led to. It was impossible after all.

Robin's eye and ear disappeared from the glass and she hurried to the library, already thinking she knew what was wrong. Unlike the rest of the crew, she had a more open mind as to what was considered impossible.

Luffy followed Zoro to the kitchen for dinner to keep up appearances. They entered through the door that was connected to the hallway. Robin stared at both of them, hoping she was wrong for Luffy's sake but also that she was right about her suspicion of what was going on with him so she could help. She watched as he sat down and gulped before eating. Robin could see the tiny hints of disgust on his face every time he swallowed, but he had become so good at faking, no one else noticed. Except Zoro it seemed. Robin hadn't known about Luffy's breathing and lack of heartbeat problem, that he was throwing up his food, or the real reason he was afraid of going outside, but by the look on his face, she shouldn't be surprised. Zoro had noticed though. They really did know each other well. Zoro had also been the only one to notice Luffy was sweating more and even he hadn't really noticed Luffy's face being a bit pale until he saw him in the sun for that moment on the parts of his skin that weren't burning and smoking.

Robin chose to observe a bit more before confronting Luffy (and most likely Zoro as well) about his  _problem._

Zoro was glaring daggers at the cook across the table, the corners of his mouth curling upwards a little in hate. Luffy looked severely depressed, so much that he had trouble eating the disgusting food. He only really ate as much as he did because he wanted the food to be gone faster so he could have dessert. If he could choose, he would want dessert before dinner so he didn't throw it up so quickly, but that wasn't happening. Even if he was the captain, Sanji owned the kitchen and food.

A thin sheen of sweat was on Luffy's pale face, it was as white as a sheet. Zoro and Robin noticed, but the rest of the crew were busy talking and laughing, so they were not paying attention to the sick looking straw hat captain. Suddenly, Luffy knew he was going to be sick, and got up, saying quickly, "Be right back," and walked into the hall, then broke out in a run. He slammed the bathroom door behind him and threw up into the toilet. He was so hungry, but he didn't know what he was supposed to eat since he kept throwing up all the food, except chocolate, but he couldn't live off of that.

Zoro had also left, pretending to go in the other direction than Luffy, but crouched down so the others couldn't see him through with window in the door and sprinted to the bathroom.

Luffy stumbled out of the bathroom and collapsed onto the ground in the hallway. Zoro shouted his name and came up right behind him. Zoro kneeled on the ground pulling Luffy upwards to see his eyes closed and face contorted in pain.

"Luffy? What's wrong?"

"I'm so hungry but I keep throwing up food… what am I supposed to eat?" he asked, nearly crying.

Robin was watching them after making an ear bloom on the back of Zoro's haramaki. After hearing that simple, pained statement, she decided it was time to talk to them about her suspicion. She dabbed her mouth with a napkin and left the kitchen. The rest of the crew were utterly confused why three of their crew just left during dinner without putting away their plates or finishing their food. As Robin left, she bloomed a mouth on the kitchen table and told the group to stay there. Sanji of course yelled at the others that Robin-chan told them to stay, though Robin couldn't hear them, and her mouth disappeared. She strode down the hall quickly before she came to Zoro and Luffy on the floor.

"Captain-san, Swordsman-san, I think it's time we talk."


	4. The Truth of the Problem

**Relatively short chapter, sorry about that. This is the chapter where things really start between the main three. I'm glad people are reviewing! I love hearing the opinions. Anyways, enjoy~**

"You've been spying on us?!" Zoro shouted at Robin in outrage.

"Yes, I have known something was wrong with Luffy, though not as much as you knew, Swordsman-san. Let's go to the library and I can tell you about my suspicions," she said and walked away before they could respond.

Luffy stumbled after the two towards the library, flopping down on a chair once they entered the room. Robin didn't waste any time and began speaking, after locking the door.

"Luffy," she started (it was odd for Robin to call him by his name and not Captain-san). "You have an extreme allergic reaction to the sun, you have no heartbeat, you can't eat normal food, and are you unbearably hungry?"

Luffy nodded. Zoro had a feeling he wasn't going to like Robin's suspicion.

"I've looked at many books in this library, and the one thing I can conclude is that you are a vampire," Robin said seriously and bluntly.

There was a silent pause. "Huh? Are you serious? This is ridiculous! Vampires don't exist!" Zoro shouted, Luffy was too shocked to speak.

Luffy stuck his finger in his mouth and touched his teeth. He hadn't smiled in a while; there was nothing for him to smile about. He'd been miserable.

Robin only stared at Zoro before turning to Luffy. "Luffy, will you smile for us?"

Luffy did as she asked. Zoro's eyes grew wide, whereas Robin pursed her lips. She was a bit sad she was right, but also felt triumphant that she figured it out.

"Luffy, does your throat hurt?"

All of the sudden his throat felt like it was on fire. Tears left his eyes as he nodded; the pain was unbelievable. Even getting impaled by Crocodile was nothing compared to this.

Zoro stood straight, eyes wide, completely shocked that he was beginning to think Robin was correct.

"Bu- but I don- don't want to drink blood!" Luffy cried. "I don't want to ki- KILL PEOPLE!"

"Luffy, we have blood bags here. You don't have to kill anyone. Ah! The transfusion!" Zoro suddenly shouted. "Robin, how are people turned into vampires?" Robin's eyes widened in realization.

"They are drained of blood and given blood of the one who turns them."

"So it was on that island," Zoro growled. If only he had made it to Luffy quicker!

"We don't have anymore blood bags. We ran out when Chopper used them on Luffy."

"What are we supposed to do? We have nothing to feed him," Zoro said, staring at the floor, trying to find a solution. "Oh… one of us, huh?"

Robin said nothing.

Luffy began to protest vehemently as Zoro pursed his lips and walked over to him. He was the first mate, so it was his duty to help his captain in any way he could. Zoro crouched down and grabbed Luffy's head and pushed it down to his arm. Luffy shook his head and tried to lean away.

"You're gonna make me do this the hard way? Fine!" Zoro said irritably as he unsheathed one of his swords and made a small cut on his arm. He then shoved it into Luffy's face, where he instantly bit down on it. Zoro hissed in pain. It was very uncomfortable, but he'd do anything to help his captain.

It tasted horrible to Luffy. Not as bad as the regular food tasted now, but it was bad. Why couldn't it taste like chocolate?! He pulled away and made a nasty face after a short moment of drinking.

"I thought blood was supposed to taste good to vam... vampires." Luffy said, hating the word already.

Zoro chuckled, "I guess I don't have to worry about you biting me in my sleep." Luffy frowned at that.

"I wouldn't do that even if it tasted great..."

Robin spoke up, "I guess it depends on the person. People have different tastes in food."

"Oi! I'm not food," Zoro said indignantly.

"Okay, okay, Swordsman-san. It seems Captain-san is looking better already."

She was right. The color returned to normal on Luffy's face; his face was no longer an unnatural white and he stood up straight. He smiled, realizing his teeth weren't sharp anymore. He felt back to normal.

"Thank you Zoro," Luffy said awkwardly.

"Anytime," he replied just as awkwardly. Robin smiled.

"And thank you Robin. If I didn't do this, it would have been bad, right?"

"If you didn't drink you would end up killing everyone around you and then eventually die," she said simply. Both Zoro and Luffy gasped. Luffy began to shake and the color left his face again as he saw himself killing everyone he loved.

"I won't let that happen, captain. You can drink my blood when you want; you won't kill your family," Zoro said sternly, like he was scolding Luffy for thinking that he ever would.

"O- okay…"

"Let's go back, shall we Captain-san? We will tell the others that it is a secret, because that's what it is. You have become an exceptional liar, by the way. You could rival Long Nose-san if you tried."

Luffy blushed at the strange compliment. They made their way back to the kitchen, acting like they had never left. Luffy looked at his food, wondering if it was better or worse than blood. He took a bite out of the meat and felt tears slide down his face.

"Oi Luffy what's wrong?" Zoro asked.

"It tastes good!" he cried, utterly confusing the members that weren't in the loop. Zoro and Robin smiled and returned to their food, letting Luffy steal as much as he wanted.

After gorging on everything in sight, Luffy casually propped his elbows onto the table and slowly touched his neck. He frowned for a moment; he still had no pulse, which bothered him. He wanted at least  _some part_  of him to still be human. He wasn't a human anymore… that would take a while to get used to. And how could he be the pirate king, or even a captain, if he couldn't go outside during the day? He wanted to go back to that island and make those that changed him pay. He wanted to be human again. And didn't vampires live a long time? His crew would age around him, always having a 17 year old captain... Gramps would die before him, and so would Ace. His happy mood was gone, replaced by a depressed frown that no one knew why he had, except for Robin and Zoro who looked at him with sympathy.

Even chocolate ice cream did not improve Luffy's mood, which was cause to make those not in the loop worry. After finishing half of it, Luffy left the kitchen to go outside and sit on the head of the Sunny. Zoro followed shortly. He leaned his arms against the railing, waiting for Luffy to say something.

Luffy then voiced his concerns. Zoro sighed.

"We will figure this out. I would also like to go back to that island and teach those bloodsuckers a lesson." Zoro didn't see Luffy flinch. He was a "bloodsucker" now. Zoro continued. "We will figure this out. You can still become the pirate king. It will be difficult, and as for the aging concern… well, just enjoy the time we have together. We will have to tell the rest eventually. It's gonna be impossible to keep the truth of why you will no longer age."

"Usopp and Chopper will be so scared of me… even Nami will be scared… Sanji would freak out also. I don't know about Franky. I'm so glad I have you and Robin. I wouldn't want to be in this all alone."

"You will never be alone, buddy. I'm sure everyone will be nervous at first, me and Robin are just weird, but they love you, they won't hate you. I promise."

Luffy smiled and they both went to bed, Zoro still taking Usopp's bed so he wouldn't notice Luffy's chest not moving at night.

In the morning, Luffy left the room, leaving his bed super neat. He apparently didn't move at all last night. He sighed. How was he supposed to nap or anything without the crew finding him not breathing and looking dead? He decided to wait for Zoro to wake up and ask him then what he should do.

When Zoro entered the kitchen, Sanji was already cooking and Luffy was sitting with his upper half laying across the table. Zoro sat across from him and said, "Hey Luffy. How did you sleep?" He received no answer, so he repeated the question. Then he noticed once again, Luffy was as still as a corpse. Sanji was about to turn around, so Zoro punched Luffy across the face. Hard. Luffy woke up and seemed to suddenly come back to life, just as Sanji walked up behind him. Zoro was staring at Luffy, a little shaken at how close of a call that was. Luffy realized what happened and nodded a thanks to Zoro.

" _This is going to be a problem,"_  Zoro thought as Sanji scolded them for fighting at his table.

Luffy kept his eyes wide open all throughout breakfast, weirding out some of the crew. He was also sitting very straight and stiff. Just another out of character thing their captain was doing. After breakfast was over, Zoro and Luffy went into the hallway to talk. Noticing this as a repeating occurrence when something was off with Luffy, Robin left for the hall also. She walked in on Luffy asking where he could sleep.

"What's wrong, Captain-san?" she asked. Zoro was the one to answer.

"He fell asleep at the table and Sanji almost caught him not breathing. He's tired but can't figure out where to nap. Luffy! Stay awake," he snapped as Luffy stopped breathing while still standing up. When humans fall asleep they snore, but apparently Luffy just stopped breathing altogether.

"Why doesn't he go to the men's room and lock the door behind him?"

"I can't get there during the day. I'd burn to death just walking over there," Luffy said, irritated with the situation. He was jealous of Zoro; he was able to sleep wherever and whenever he wanted, not to mention still go outside during the day!

Robin thought about this. The room that the crew used the least was probably the storage room, but it didn't have a lock from the inside, and it wasn't like they could ask Franky to put a lock on the door of the storage room  _from the inside._  That would surely be suspicious. And the bathroom was obviously not going to work for many reasons.

"You could use the library. For some reason there is a lock on that door. There's even a couch you could sleep on. Since I'm the only one who really uses that room, it's less likely to seem suspicious to anyone. I could even go in with you while you sleep so I could make sure no one enters. Captain-san should be able to rest in there with me," Robin concluded.

"Thanks Robin! Can we go now? I'm-  _haaaa_ \- exhausted," Luffy yawned.

"You know, it could be because you are supposed to be nocturnal…" Robin mused.

"No! I don't want to miss the whole day and be by myself at night!" Luffy huffed.

"Then you should just take short naps, right? I mean, that's the only solution I can see," said Zoro, leaning against the wall looking a little tired himself. It was time for his after-breakfast nap after all.

"I hate this," Luffy grumbled and walked away with Robin to take a nap. Zoro pushed off the wall and walked to the aquarium, not his usual spot, but ever since this whole vampire thing started, he wanted to be able to reach Luffy quickly if something went wrong.

**Everyone be excited for the next chapter! Personally it's my fav part of the whole story along with the very ending. Lots of drama and angst. Gotta love dem angst.**


	5. The Secret is Out!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ah Franky what have you done? Poor Luffy must finally come clean, but how will his crew react?

**This one is a major turning point in the story and is very important. I tried my best to keep everyone in character and I think I did ok, I hope everyone else thinks that, too. And thanks for the positive reviews. It really helps me because this is my first fanfic so I was nervous it would suck.**   **This is a longer one, a** **nyways, enjoy ~**

Luffy had been drinking from Zoro once a week, and not even that much blood. He found out he was temporarily able to be in the sun, but only at the beginning of the week, the two days after feeding. He was able to be on deck for around 3 minutes before feeling his body tell him to get out of the sunlight. After being in the sun for any amount of time, he'd go to the library and take a nap. The crew just chalked it up to Luffy being weird. The human food tasted good again, not as great as before he was turned, but better than it had been. He was also starting to like how Zoro's blood tasted but he was in complete control of his hunger, which the human food curbed for a bit.

Those who didn't know what had been going on started to feel less concerned about their captain's behavior, even though he was still a monster about the whole chocolate thing, which Robin still couldn't figure out the cause of. Robin was a huge help with the whole ordeal Luffy was going through. She had made excuses for Luffy not going on the island they stopped at, which the crew believed. She stayed with Luffy on the ship, reading everything related to vampirism to him (since he hated reading himself). This was the only time they wouldn't be worried about others hearing, because they were still curious about why the three had been hanging out so much together.

Robin had also been with Luffy during his three or four one hour long naps everyday. Robin and Zoro were his emotional support and best friends. He also had been able to dodge Chopper's check ups. It would be bad for Chopper to notice Luffy's heart no longer beat; he would undoubtedly think Luffy was a zombie or an imposter of some sort..

Luffy tried to get Nami to reverse their course back to the island that made Luffy the "bloodsucker" he was. He hadn't forgotten the word Zoro had used and it hurt to even think about. He was trying very hard at all times to convince himself he wasn't evil or a monster. Now he knew how Chopper felt about feeling like a monster.

Nami refused because she didn't know the real reason why he was begging for them to go back. It was captain's order but she had explained that she had never reversed the log pose before, and was nervous to do it. So the Sunny got further and further away from the island. Luffy was beginning to lose hope. What if they could never get back to that wretched place and solve this problem?

Luffy was watching from the doorway one day as Franky set up a new invention. It was some sort of scooter that latched onto the railing and slid around the ship. It had been 5 days since he drank from Zoro, so even being this close to the sunlight made him uncomfortable, but he wanted to see the new invention. All hell broke loose when Franky picked Luffy up to come see the scooter on the railing, ignoring Luffy's screams of protest about going outside, just thinking the kid needed some sun since he had gotten paler lately.

As soon as Luffy was bathed in sunlight he started to scream and burn, thrashing around on the cyborg's shoulder. Franky didn't know what was going on and dropped him, and Luffy couldn't bring himself to stand. His skin continued to burn and smoke as he kept screaming and writhing on the ground in pain.

Zoro woke up to his captain's screaming and ran to him instantly, dragging him back inside the shade of the kitchen. Luffy was panting and gasping for air. Zoro shouted for Robin, who came running in and locked the door behind her, keeping the others out. If they were going to explain this, which there was no doubt they would need to now, they wanted Luffy conscious and not in agony for it.

So the two waited for Luffy to heal, which took about twenty minutes. The two looked at each other, worried about Luffy, but even more worried about how the crew would react to Luffy's  _condition_ , and how they would feel about Zoro and Robin lying to them all this time. They knew Luffy would be fine physically, but emotionally, they had no idea.

When Luffy woke up, after taking a few calming breaths that didn't calm him at all and getting an encouraging look from Robin and a nod from Zoro saying it was time, he gestured for them to open the door. Before they did so, Robin bloomed a mouth on the outside of the door, saying, "Please be calm." That was it and the crew became very nervous, feeling that they were going to finally know what was up with the change in Luffy. Zoro opened the door and glared daggers at Franky, who had been crying. He didn't know what had happened but he knew he had hurt Luffy, and even after Luffy begged him to not take him outside he still had.

The crew walked in and sat down at the table looking over at Luffy, who was sitting in a ball, his face covered by his hat and his knees up to his chin. A few of them gasped when they saw Luffy's burns were gone, his skin only a little pink.

"I will explain everything," said Robin calmly. Zoro walked over and stood against the wall next to Luffy, who wouldn't look up at his friends.

Robin took a deep breath, and bluntly said, "Luffy has been turned into a vampire."

There was a tense moment of silence until Usopp began to laugh, making Luffy visibly flinch. "You can't be serious!"

"Shut up Usopp," Sanji scolded. "But I agree that this isn't possible," he admitted. "Vampires don't exist. They're only used to scare people."

"Oh yeah Curly Brow? How do you explain what just happened when Luffy started to burn in the sunlight?" Zoro questioned harshly. Sanji looked at Luffy, who hadn't denied what Robin said or raised his head. "Do you have another explanation, because if you do, please enlighten us."

"Robin-chan, please continue," Sanji said nervously after glaring at Zoro.

"On the island we went to a couple weeks ago, though Luffy doesn't really remember the details, why did he come back to the ship drained of blood? We are pretty sure that he was turned there. He has stayed indoors for the very reason you just witnessed. He was disgusted with the human food he used to eat, but he ate it because he didn't want you to worry about him. Zoro was the first to notice and figure out something was wrong by his strange behavior, and I was second. I did my research on vampires and everything matched with Luffy. Though, we still don't know why he craves chocolate so much now."

She waited for the information to sink in before continuing. "Chopper, you aren't going to like this, but since you look like you don't believe me, go hear his heartbeat."

Chopper gulped before walking up to Luffy. "Luffy, can I hear your heartbeat?" he asked nervously. Luffy uncurled himself, letting Chopper stand on his lap and listen to his chest. He predictably freaked out when he didn't hear a heartbeat. Luffy looked at him blankly, a single tear going down his cheek as he saw the fear on Chopper's face.

"Oi, what's the problem Chopper?" Sanji asked. He seemed to be the only one who could handle talking, as the others were still shell-shocked and were still not fully believing what they were hearing.

"There's no heartbeat!" he cried as he got off Luffy's lap. He didn't run away, but he didn't stay near him either. Zoro looked at him furiously as his captain began to cry a little harder.

Chopper looked ashamed, but didn't go back. Luffy didn't even need to see to know Usopp was terrified.

When Chopper said this, Nami and Franky gasped, Usopp whimpered, and Sanji swallowed. It was obvious that the crew was extremely uncomfortable with the fact that Luffy's heart no longer beat, each of them wondering if he was technically undead. Then Usopp found another way for the crew to freak out.

"Don't vamp... vampires drink blood? We have no blood bags on the ship…" Usopp said nervously. "How… how has he, you know..?"

Zoro raised his head and stared at him pointedly with his eyebrows raised.

"Zoro?! Luffy has been eating Zoro?!" Usopp screeched.

"Oi! He doesn't  _eat_  me! He drinks once a week." Sanji looked horrified. "Got a problem with that?!" he barked at Sanji, who looked away from him. "I'm still pissed at you for kicking him into the sunlight to burn to a crisp when all he wanted was some ice cream."

Sanji winced. He had forgotten about that. He didn't know it at the time, but it could have easily killed Luffy. Luffy would have been dead and it would have been Sanji's fault. He looked down at his hands in his lap and felt a large amount of shame.

Nami decided to turn the conversation back to the questions. "But he sleeps, doesn't he?" Nami asked. "It's not like he sleeps in a coffin…"

"He's been taking short naps throughout the day, as I'm sure everyone has noticed," Robin said.

"Also, have you guys noticed less snoring?" Zoro asked calmly without emotion. The male strawhats thought about that for a moment.

"You know it  _has_  been quieter in there at night…" said Franky. The other guys nodded, they too had noticed that.

"That's because Luffy doesn't breathe when he's asleep," Robin stated.

"WHAA?" Usopp exclaimed loudly. Things just kept getting worse!

"Ever wonder why I took your bunk? You would have noticed he didn't breathe and freaked out, like you are doing now. I didn't want him to have to deal with that, like he is forced to  _right now_ ," Zoro nearly snarled. He wanted to punch Usopp and shut him up before he hurt Luffy more. Didn't he realize how hard this is for him?! Couldn't the idiot see Luffy silently crying?

And Luffy was crying. His crew was reacting how he feared they would. Every question felt like a stab to his non-beating heart. Usopp was the worst, and he didn't want anyone to feel guilty.

Sanji hadn't known and Luffy was positive he wouldn't have kicked him out into the sunlight if he had known then. Should he have told his crew earlier? He honestly didn't want them to know yet because he wasn't prepared for this. He was trying his best to be invisible, hating all the attention on him. They looked at him like they had never seen him before. He felt like something dirty that no one should have to look at.

Luffy was startled out of his inner turmoil when Chopper came over and hesitantly put his hoof on Luffy's shoulder. "Is there anything else different about your body now?" he asked as calmly as he could.

Luffy simply nodded and opened his mouth, letting his canines elongate. Usopp squealed. Chopper's eyes widened. "And what about the burns? They look like they're gone…"

"I can heal faster now," Luffy said quietly.

Nami looked at him sympathetically. "Why didn't you tell us sooner?"

"I can't be a good captain if my crew is afraid of me. I can't even go outside now, and you will all get old around me while I stay the same. I knew Usopp and Chopper would be afraid, and Sanji would be mad I was throwing up his food for a week," Luffy confessed in a low voice.

Usopp seemed to be the only one acting openly afraid, and he was. His captain drank people's blood! Of course he was afraid! He was so scared he didn't even realize that Luffy as a vampire hadn't attacked any of them while they slept together for weeks. He also couldn't see around his fear that Luffy was still Luffy. To Usopp, Luffy was now a monster. He'd only heard bad stories about vampires. If they actually existed, then some of the rumors must be true also, right? Could he smell blood? Could he use mind control?! What if he had been controlling them all that time?! Usopp then decided he should stay a little away. Just for now, of course...

Sanji looked at Luffy angrily. "I wouldn't be mad that you threw up my food if you had told me! I'm supposed to be your cook and my food tastes terrible to you? Of course I would be upset."

Robin came back into the conversation. "He can eat it now. He hasn't needed to throw up in a few weeks. His joy of eating your food, like usual, is sincere."

"Then why not before?" Sanji asked, confused.

"Because of me," Zoro answered, and it took a moment for the crew to understand. "We still have no clue why he craves chocolate like he does. That was the only thing he could keep down in the beginning."

"Well, someone has turned into an impressive liar," Nami teased, trying to lighten the mood and looking at Luffy, who cracked a small smile. "Never thought I'd see the day. And something so big! You couldn't lie to Sanji about eating his food, but you can lie about being a freaking vampire?! You're better than Usopp!"

"Why didn't you tell us sooner?" Sanji asked, seemingly offended. "Why did you lie all this time? We could have been helping you!" Luffy couldn't think of what to say, so Zoro one again spoke for him, albeit a little harsher than he needed to.

"Look how you guys are reacting! Of course he waited to tell you. Can you imagine how much harder this  _interrogation_  would have been if he had  _just_  figured it out? You all have no idea what this feels like to him, or how hard this whole damn mess has been! Almost all of you have been acting like fucking cowards. Think about that!" Zoro yelled angrily.

"Oh, like you would know?!" shouted Sanji.

Zoro was livid by now. "Of course I would know! I've been with him since the very beginning! I was the perfect person for him in this situation. I didn't act afraid of him, even when I found him looking dead out on the deck, or when he was burning to death when YOU kicked him out of the damn kitchen, or when we realized what he is now, or even when I offered for him to drink my blood. I can say the same for Robin. WE have been with him, so don't act all offended when you care more about the ladies on this ship than your captain."

That stung Sanji. Zoro was right. Sanji cared too much about only the ladies on the ship. He didn't know if he could have been more understanding for Luffy than Zoro was. Sanji was positive he wouldn't have let Luffy drink his blood, even if was for Luffy to stay alive. He probably would have thought Luffy was a danger to the ladies. He was selfish and absolutely hated it when the marimo was right. He looked down at his hands once again, embarrassment and shame welling up inside him.

Luffy suddenly began to cry. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you! But- but Usopp is scared of- of me now! I can't be the pirate king like this. I'm a freaky bloodsucker… of course you are scared!"

Zoro winced, remembering how he called the ones who changed Luffy bloodsuckers. Of course Luffy would see himself as being one. Zoro felt bad about that.

Luffy continued to sob unintelligible words, and the crew felt a swell of shame and anger directed towards themselves. They could now understand why Luffy kept it secret for so long. Franky broke first after hearing this.

"I'm so sorry Luffy! You told me not to take you into the sun and then I did and you got hurt. I'm so, so sorry!" Franky cried. "I wouldn't have done it if I knew!" Luffy gave him a small smile. Truth be told, he was still angry with the cyborg. It was because of Franky that he was forced to tell the truth, which he really wasn't ready to do. But Luffy forgave him of course.

After a moment of silence, the crew waiting for him to compose himself, Luffy said quietly, "I wish we'd never gone to that island…" He pulled his legs back up to his knees, hiding his face once again.

Nami stood up suddenly. "Then we're going back. You want to be human again, don't you, Luffy?"

"Yes."

"Then that's that. We are going back and finding the people who did this to you. We'll make them tell us how to change you back, even if we have to drag them back screaming," Nami said forcefully. Everyone agreed, albeit a little surprised at Nami's harsh words...

**Gotta love that angst.**


	6. The First Nightmare

**I hoped everyone liked the last chapter as much as I did. Love that angst. I sort of made Usopp an asshole in this, but it seems in character. Well, I hope it does. Enjoy~**

As his crew planned how they were going to go back since they never backtracked the log pose, Luffy eventually fell asleep. Everyone watched him for a while.

"He looks like he's dead…" Chopper said sadly. The others agreed. Nobody was comfortable seeing Luffy like this. They all wanted to go shake him awake so he looked alive, but after what just happened, they let him sleep as long as he wanted.

Usopp was sitting in the corner across from the sleeping vampire, still terrified. He tried not to look at him...

Zoro noticed Usopp's expression of fear and disgust. He walked over and glared harshly at him, still pissed about how terrible he'd made Luffy feel.

"Get used to it and stop being an ass. Your captain and friend is a vampire, but he's still Luffy. If I'm not afraid of him when he drinks my blood, then you have no right to be either." Zoro turned around and walked away after repeating, "Get used to it."

Everyone pretended to not hear their short, one-sided conversation, but they did. They agreed with Zoro, but could see where Usopp was coming from. But the others in the Coward Trio had mostly gotten over it. Yes, Usopp was the most afraid about everything but having just lost his crew before at Water 7, it made no sense for him to push Luffy away, no matter what he was. The sniper would have to work hard on this. The rest of the crew hoped he would. It was hard enough for Luffy to be a vampire and all, but to lose a friend again because of something he couldn't control, after just getting back together, would hurt immensely.

Luffy was still asleep when the sun went down, so Zoro carried him to the men's room and put him on his bed, then got on his own and fell asleep. The rest of the crew followed, each staring at Luffy's body for a moment. It unnerved them how much he looked like a corpse. Usopp looked the longest and went to his new bed, Zoro's' previous one, which was the furthest from Luffy's. He felt awful about the relief he felt because of this.

 _Luffy was sitting at the dining table, eating with his friends, feeling fine and happy to like the food again. Or at least he_ did like it _. Now it tasted repulsive, and all he could think about was the delicious smell wafting from each of his friends. He could hear their blood pumping through their veins. The first to notice him staring blankly at everyone was Zoro of course._

" _Luffy, you okay?" he asked. Luffy nodded. Robin was drinking wine she had gotten from Sanji, but the red liquid looked thicker and much more appealing than the grape juice. Suddenly Robin dropped the glass and it shattered, cutting Nami's finger, who sat right next to her._

" _Navigator-chan I'm so sorry!" Robin said as Chopper handed her his little medicine bag. Luffy didn't want the blood to be covered up by a bandage. He wanted to lick it, to tear through her neck to get more of the delicious liquid. Zoro once again noticed something was wrong with his captain. His eyes were red, which had never happened. Zoro told everyone to run. Just run as fast as you can, but Luffy was too quick. He leapt on the nearest person: Sanji. The cook tried to kick him with his strong leg, but Luffy was too fast and snapped the bone in half. Sanji screamed as Luffy ripped his throat out, his scream being cut off instantly. The rest of the crew screamed as they ran for the doors._

_Luffy decided to block the door that went to the outside. He didn't want to lose them in the sunlight. He used his now sharpened fingernails and slashed Nami across the chest, blood spraying everywhere, coating Robin. The usually calm Robin screamed and tried to restrain him with her devil fruit, but Luffy just ripped at her arms, causing Robin to scream in pain, her arms disappearing, as she was brought down by Luffy like the others. Nami was still writhing in pain until Luffy threw Robin down next to her and ripped both of their throats open. He wanted to drink greedily but he had to wait. There were still other humans in the room._

_Franky shielded Usopp and Chopper, trying to fight off Luffy with his Weapons Left, but the bullets bounced off him, hitting Chopper, killing him instantly. Luffy was a bit disappointed that he lost someone to rip open, even if he didn't find animal blood appealing, but he still had Franky, Usopp and Zoro. He hadn't noticed Zoro had his sword to Luffy's throat. He looked terrified and shocked._

" _Luffy stop! Don't make me kill you!" His whole body except his arm and hand was shaking in fear, of his captain and from the aspect of having to kill him. Luffy snarled at him, slashing Franky as he turned around to face the swordsman. "Luffy, please don't make me kill you!" Luffy's eyes glinted at him. Zoro swing his sword but it was easily broken in half by Luffy. He pulled out his other swords and tried to slash him, but Luffy was too fast, and like Sanji, he ripped his throat open. Zoro's blood was the best because it was familiar. How could he have once not liked the taste?_

_The only one left was Usopp. Luffy walked towards him, covered in the blood of his friends. Usopp screamed, and as Luffy killed him, he muttered, "I was right. You are a monster," and became still. Luffy laughed…_

Luffy woke up from the nightmare, staggered outside, where the sun was thankfully not in the sky yet, and threw up over the side of the ship. He was shaking and sweating, and as he fell to his knees he started to sob.

"Captain-san?" Robin said as she walked over to him; she was on watch duty that night. Luffy ran over to her and collapsed against her. She lowered herself and Luffy to a sitting position on the grassy deck. "What is it? What's wrong?"

"I had a nightmare…" Luffy muttered as his sobbing subsided. Robin stroked his hair.

"What was it about?" she asked calmly, knowing it must have been very bad to make Luffy cry so hard.

"I killed all of you… I ripped you guys open and drank your blood… It felt so real! I thought it was real! I'm sorry!" he started to cry again. Robin continued to stroke his hair.

"It was a nightmare, Captain-san. Just a dream. Tell me, what do I smell like?" The question was strange, but Luffy answered.

"Perfume," he mumbled.

"I don't smell like blood?"

"No."

"Then you know it was a dream. In your dream, you smelled our blood, correct? Then since you aren't smelling it now, you won't attack me. It was only a nightmare. To be honest I'm surprised it's taken this long," she said curiously.

"What do you mean?" Luffy questioned, his tears subsiding and his breathing becoming more regular.

"Well think about it Captain-san. You have turned into a vampire. I think that fact alone is enough to cause nightmares. You are an anomaly. You don't even like the taste of blood. You crave chocolate more than blood, which you live off of. It was a dream," she repeated one last time. He mumbled something unintelligible before falling back asleep. Robin easily carried him to his bunk, not caring that she was in the men's room. She gently laid him down, catching Zoro's open eyes. She motioned with her head for him to come outside. Luffy became completely still, once again looking like a dead body.

Zoro followed Robin out of the room to the deck and waited for her to speak. "Swordsman-san, Captain-san might start drinking more from you."

"Why? How do you know?"

"Well, he had a very…  _graphic…_ nightmare."

Zoro sighed. "Was it what you said when we first figured it out? That he would kill all of us? You mean he's going to want to drink more because he's scared he will be out of control?" Zoro had been thinking it was strange that there was no effect in Luffy's behavior after hearing what Robin inconsiderately said. He, like Robin, had thought Luffy would be affected some way sooner.

"You know him very well. Yes, that is exactly what I was thinking. The others are too frightened of him still, so let's keep this nightmare a secret." With that, she winked and climbed back up to the crows nest.

Zoro walked back to the men's room and sighed. When did that woman and him become so close? "Luffy you're such a hassle," he said but he smiled softly as he did. He was first mate and he would protect his captain, even if it was from himself.

The next morning, Luffy woke up with bags under his eyes. He had slept but woke up feeling like he hadn't. He noticed he woke up too late and couldn't get outside! He was trapped in the tiny room. Why didn't anyone wake him up? He banged on the door, trying to get someone to notice. Where was everyone? His nightmare came back all of the sudden. What if he killed them all and just went back to bed, and that's why none of his bunk mates were with him? He had to know.

He whipped open the door and ran across the deck into the kitchen, where he saw everyone. They were very surprised to see Luffy, panting with his shoulders and back of the neck burned. He collapsed onto the floor panting, but started to heal right away after he got into the shade. The crew watched in awe as his burns disappeared. They seemed to be fading faster than they had before. This time it took around ten minutes instead of twenty minutes and then half an hour in the very beginning. The only one feeling anything other than awe was Usopp, who cringed at Luffy's inhuman healing. Zoro shook his head from across the room. " _Idiot"_. Well, they were the ones who didn't wake him up... what the hell was wrong with them?

Luffy looked at everyone, seeming to count them.  _Eight. Phew._ He visibly relaxed, only Robin and Zoro knew what he was scared of. He honestly had doubts that what he dreamt was a nightmare and not real. Zoro suddenly pitied him. Ever since this started, he had been sympathetic, so suddenly feeling pity was a surprise, and he scolded himself for it. He was waiting for Luffy to pull him away to talk in private, which a couple moments later, he did.

"Zoro… can we talk in private."

Zoro stood up and said, "Sure, captain."

They walked into the aquarium, where they did their business, not wanting to freak the others out with the whole blood drinking thing. Luffy fidgeted nervously, looking at the ground. Zoro waited for him to speak.

"I was wondering… if I could drink off you  _two_ nights in the week…" he confessed quickly, putting two fingers in front of him, still not looking at the swordsman.

"Sure Luffy. That's fine," he said with a smile.

"You don't seem surprised…" Luffy said slowly. "Oh, Robin told you about my nightmare, didn't she?"

"Yeah, she did. But I don't mind. It's not like it hurts or anything, and you seem to have pretty good control about when to stop, so I don't mind if it helps you. Besides, it won't last long right? We're going to that island in a couple weeks, so that's about 8 sessions. We will get you back to normal. I promise. And when have I ever broken a promise?"

"Oh… okay. Thank you," Luffy mumbled.

"So what's the schedule now. Monday and Thursday or something?"

"Sure, that works. I wonder if this will make them uncomfortable. Us just walking out and down here. They must realize what we are doing in here."

"Will it change anything if it does? If you need to convince yourself that you are doing this to protect us, then why should you mind what they think? Besides, it's a Sunday, so we're not doing it in here today. Why don't we go back?" So they did. When they came back, everyone stared at them a little curiously.

"What? What are you staring at?" Zoro asked hotly, and everyone looked away from the two. Both sat down and began to eat Sanji's pancakes.

Sanji knew how hard yesterday had been for Luffy, having to confess all this, so he'd made Luffy's pancakes with chocolate chips in them. Once Luffy realized this, he beamed and thanked Sanji. Even if it was a small gesture, Luffy understood it and was thankful. Zoro looked approvingly at his rival.

"Isn't a little early for wine, Robin?" Usopp asked. Robin ignored him as Luffy looked over to see Robin with her wine glass, sitting in the same spot as in his dream. Reminded of the awful nightmare, Luffy asked something he had been wondering about and hoping for, just in case.

"Robin, do we still have a pair of sea-prism cuffs?" he asked as casually as he could, eating his pancakes. Zoro looked up at this. That dream really was bothering him. The sense of pity came back.

"Of course." Robin said as she sipped her wine, smart enough to not bring up why in front of everyone, who were obviously still nervous around him. She knew his next question, so she answered it before he voiced it. "They are in the storage room hanging on the wall."

The crew looked confused and still a bit wary of Luffy. They had all gone to bed thinking about it, and it didn't help the men that there was a still, dead looking Luffy sleeping under them. Even though Luffy had been sleeping in the same room as them for weeks as a vampire, they all seemed to sleep with some sort of blanket or pillow covering their necks, not that they knew they were doing it. They didn't understand how Zoro was so cool with it, and letting Luffy feed off him boggled their minds further. They were all a bit jealous of Zoro and Robin's comfort around the teen. Usopp still hadn't even gotten close to getting over the fear of his friend.

**Read and review please!**


	7. The Cuffs

**Shorter chapter, sorry about that. Enjoy anyways~**

Luffy continued to have nightmares for a few days, each one a different scenario of killing his crew, but he didn't react as he did the first night. He kept them to himself, and was so good at acting by now that even Robin and Zoro didn't notice. Even though he had been with the two since before they learned about his condition, he couldn't bring himself to confess to them. And there was no way he was going to tell them that he had started to smell blood more clearly lately.

After the worst nightmare he had had as of yet, in which he ripped everyone's heads off, he secretly started carrying the sea prism cuffs in his lined it with multiple pieces of fabric he had cut from one of his old shirts to make sure he didn't come too close to the stone and make him weak. If he had to, he would want someone else cuff him,shut him in the storage room and barricade the door. Since he was too afraid to confess, he could only hope someone would have the sense to do that.

Luffy even started hiding the cuffs in the wooden frame under the mattress he slept on. No one noticed this since he made sure to go to bed first and get up first, therefore avoiding someone seeing him hide them at night and then put them in his pocket after waking up.

After it had been a week straight of nightmares, it was obvious to everyone that he wasn't sleeping well. The bags under his eyes were now purple and very noticable. But he just said he had been so focused on turning back to a human it was hard to sleep at night. He also did his best to not sniff more often, breathing more lightly, but the smell of blood was just getting so strong. He wanted to ask Chopper to give him sedatives at night, but no one knew how his new body would handle it. For all they knew, human medicine could poison him.

Zoro had finally started waking up earlier than him to see what was going on. He was able to train his body to wake up when he wanted to. He saw Luffy gasp in his sleep and then sit up straight, panting, eyes watery. He then quietly kneeled under the bed. Zoro was surprised for the first time in a while when Luffy pulled out the cuffs he had asked about a while ago and put them in his pocket, using fabric to move them so he didn't touch them and become weak.

He rubbed his eyes and walked out of the men's room. Zoro frowned and felt irritated with himself. How had he not noticed yet? But then he remembered that Luffy had been stuffing candy in his other pocket, making both pockets seem to be filled with candy. " _Jeez, Luffy has become smart…"_

He needed to talk to Robin about this. Zoro decided to go talk to Robin right then, before the other members began to wake up. Even Sanji didn't wake up as early as Luffy, and he had always been the first to get up, being the one cooking breakfast for everyone.

Zoro knocked on the door to the girl's room very softly, knowing Robin slept right next to the door and hoping he didn't wake the witch up also. After a moment, Robin came out, surprised to see Zoro so early. He gestured her to come with him some place more private.

They sat in the crow's nest, Robin waiting for Zoro to speak. "Luffy has been carrying sea prism cuffs in his pocket. I woke up earlier than him today, and saw him pulling them out from under his bed and stuffing them into his pocket. Luffy's become too smart for his own good. It seems like he's been balancing the weight with candy in the other pocket," Zoro explained. "I assume his nightmares have still been happening. When he woke up he looked severely disturbed, and this explains the bags under his eyes."

Robin had stayed quiet, her brows furrowing in concern. "I believe we should talk to him about this. It might be the only way to help Captain-san at the moment," Robin said. "He shouldn't go through anything alone right now."

So the two agreed that the next day they would confront him. When the crew gathered in the kitchen both Robin and Zoro noticed the bulging pockets, and could now tell that one side was shaped differently than the other. They wanted to talk to him about this, but before they were given the chance to talk to him in private he went to them instead. He asked both of them to come talk with him. Not caring what the others thought, they all retreated to the library.

Luffy wasted no time before he spoke nervously. "If something goes wrong, I would like one of you to cuff me and lock me in the storage room." Then he stayed silent, looking at his feet.

"Luffy, we know you have been carrying the cuffs in your pocket. It's the nightmares, isn't it?" Zoro asked.

Luffy nodded and hesitantly said, "They have been getting more violent. I still don't feel like doing anything when I'm awake," he assured them as best as he could with not making it obvious that it was a half-truth. "But just… just in case I  _do_ do something… can you help with it? I don't care if you have to cut me somewhere with your sword, or restrain me with your devil fruit," Luffy said, looking in both of their eyes, showing how desperate he was for them to agree.

"We won't let that happen, but yes, Captain-san, we will do what you ask if anything ever happens, which I severely doubt will," Robin replied gently. "I'm surprised the nightmares haven't gotten any better despite you feeding off Zoro more often," she said curiously.

"I think that might be the problem… I feel like I'm not only drinking more often, but a larger amount… isn't that right Zoro?"  _And it's starting to taste stronger..._

"Yeah, Luffy, I realized that too. But it's not like you're hurting me, so why is it bothering you?"

_Because I might._

"I don't know. Maybe because it makes me feel like I crave it more, which happens in my… dreams. What if it gets worse?" Luffy looked at him with wide, concerned and guilty eyes.

"If I become uncomfortable, I will tell you. If you don't stop, I will do as you ask and cut you somewhere, and if you keep the cuffs in your pocket, I'll use those, too... Robin, maybe you should keep an eye on us when he drinks, so I don't need to shout for you in case you need to help me restrain him."

"I also had another idea about this. I didn't want to resort to this because it will make Franky suspicious, but do you think he could make a ring out of the sea prism cuffs for me? Don't you guys think that will make it harder for me to do anything to anyone. I don't know how strong I am since I haven't fought since this all started…"

"I think that's a great idea, Captain-san."

So when breakfast was over, all three of them went to Franky to ask. He agreed warrily, and Luffy handed him the cuffs. Franky was surprised when he pulled them out of his pocket. Luffy, Zoro and Robin stayed in the room with him as he pounded one side of the cuffs into small fragments and melted them into the shape of a ring. Luffy was eager to put it on, hoping it worked.

When he put it on, he looked a little sleepy. Not enough for him to be out of it, but enough to make him walk a little slower. It would be annoying, but Luffy felt it was a small price to pay for the amount of relief that flooded through him.

That night, he didn't have a nightmare, and when he woke up, he was happier. The scent of blood was nearly unnoticeable. Nobody mentioned the ring, because honestly they didn't want to know why he was wearing it in the first place. He felt in control of himself and he felt his nightmares were behind him. He thanked Franky again, and sat down for lunch with the rest of his crew.

**Gotta love dem angst**


	8. Doctor's Visit and a Cowardly Friend

**Three chapters left until it's over! Look forward to chapter 11 because it's very long. This one, in my opinion, is pretty short, but I'll update the day after tomorrow. Psst... Usopp's an asshole in this chapter.**

**Enjoy~**

Chopper decided he wanted to know more about Luffy's new body, so he asked him to come to the infirmary with him, to which Luffy complied, thinking maybe if the crew knew more about what was happening inside his body they would be more calm around him. Plus he himself was curious.

Chopper was obviously a little nervous about being alone with Luffy, which he hated himself for, so Robin came in with him. She was also curious.

Chopper started with a blood test, and followed with an abdominal x-ray, then a bone x-ray, a mouth swab, seeing his pupils react, and doing mobility exercises. About 2 hours later, Luffy and Robin came out, leaving Chopper to examine his findings.

Luffy sat in the aquarium watching the fish, absentmindedly playing with his fangs by bringing them out and them pulling them back in when Chopper approached him.

"Luffy, I'm going to show you what I've found, but not the others until you give me permission. Doctor-patient confidentiality y'know." Luffy smiled, not realizing his fangs were still out until Chopper gave an unmanly squeak.

"Oh, sorry," Luffy said, pulling his fangs back in.

They walked into the infirmary in silence, Robin was waiting outside the door and asked if she could come in as well. Luffy agreed. Luffy sat on the bed as he was shown his x-rays. His bones seemed normal, but the abdominal x-ray results were a little troubling. His heart was in a state of suspended animation, not beating but not damaged in any way. The troubling part was that blood was still running in his veins, but not going to his heart. As soon as the blood reached the heart, it seemed to turn around and go back. None of them understood how that was even possible. There must have been some very tight U-turns going on. The blood was also moving abnormally fast. Chopper couldn't explain it, and told him that his blood type was not Luffy's but Zoro's. Luffy was a little freaked that his first mate's blood was the only thing really keeping him "alive". He had none of his own blood left. He felt like he had stolen something that wasn't his. Luffy asked Robin to go get Zoro, and so when she came back with him, he was interested in the fact that it was his blood was running through his captain's body. He felt a surge of unexpected pride.  _He_  was keeping Luffy alive. He smirked smugly, which didn't go unnoticed by Robin. She smiled.

Chopper said nothing weird had come from the cheek swab, and that his pupils reacted a little too much. When the light was shined in them, they retracted too small to be normal. They were as tiny as a needle point, almost not able to be seen. Chopper tried to be calm about this, but he was weirded out about it. Luffy himself hadn't noticed anything change about his eyes, only that the sunlight made things blurry. They weren't any more sensitive to anything else than they had been before.

"Luffy, have you tried stretching since you changed?" Chopper questioned. Luffy thought for a moment.

"Hmm… No I haven't." Chopper asked him to. He thought it was a weird request but he did anyways. He meant to stretch slowly, expecting the movement would be awkward and messy, but his arm shot out faster than gear second. It broke part of the wall. " _The ring was supposed to help me get better control!"_ Luffy kept his face neutral for a moment and then tried to act normal again because Chopper was in the room.

"Oops… I didn't mean for it to go that fast." He tried to grab something that fell off the wall when he punched it but again his hand went too fast.

"Hey, Luffy maybe stop stretching inside if you're going to break everything," Zoro suggested, playing along with his act of normalcy, not showing his irritation and sadness. Luffy nodded and pulled his arm back, smacking himself in the face, something he hadn't done to himself since childhood, before he could control his devil fruit. He landed hard on the floor and Zoro busted up laughing. Even Robin couldn't hold in a chuckle. Zoro's blood rushed to Luffy's face in embarrassment.

"Shut up," he grumbled.

"You know, I thought Captain-san would have stronger senses. From what I have read, vampires are supposed to be superhuman." Robin mused, hand on her chin. "I wonder why Captain-san isn't." She didn't even think about the ring hindering his senses since Luffy hadn't divulged that one of his desires was to dull his sense of smell. Blood just smelled too strong.

"Well, Luffy was already kind of superhuman…" replied Chopper.

"It could be his devil fruit interfering," Zoro suggested. He didn't mention the ring because Chopper might not have noticed it was made out sea prism.

"Well my sense of smell has improved. Food smells a lot stronger. Good and bad."

"But you told me that you couldn't smell my blood, only perfume," Robin said.

"When was this?" Zoro asked, not remembering hearing about this.

"After his… dream," Robin replied.

"Ah. I see." Zoro left it at that, confusing poor Chopper, who was already overwhelmed before he brought Luffy in to see his results.

"So, do you want me to share anything I've found with the crew?" Chopper asked in his professional manner that was always brought out when he performed his doctor duties.

"I don't want anyone to know about Zoro's blood being what's running through my veins. That would freak Usopp even more. You can tell them about my bones and eyes… I'm not sure about the superhuman strength part…" Luffy looked up to Zoro and Robin and asked what they thought about that.

Zoro said the crew should just toughen up and hear about the uncontrollable strength, whereas Robin told him not to tell them, at least not until they were more comfortable with the subject. Robin's opinion seemed more sound, so Luffy asked Chopper not to tell them. The young reindeer doctor agreed to do as Luffy wished.

Only Franky found Luffy's eyes interesting. He himself always wanted enhanced eyesight, and on the spot vowed one day he would work on his eyes becoming sharper. Luffy laughed at this, feeling like  _something_ has gotten back to normal.

Nami was distracted and stressed with the act of sailing backwards on the Grand Line, so she was snappier than usual. She wasn't interested in any of the findings and she was obviously trying to get them to the island as quickly as possible. Whether it was because Luffy wanted to be back to normal or to end her fear of him faster, nobody was sure. Not even Nami herself. She was still a bit peeved that Robin kept a huge secret from her, though she said she understood. Being a vampire could make some profit. That's all. She wouldn't have y'know,  _exploited_ him or anything. At least that was what she was trying to convince herself. She felt sorry for thinking like that; it was just natural for her to think like money was life. There was no way she would voice any of her thoughts though. A vampire might not like it.

To tell the truth, she was not comfortable around Luffy, but she knew how much that would hurt him, and he had saved her from her own personal hell, so who was she to leave him in his hardest time? She was not like Usopp, a thought that went through many of the strawhats' minds as of late. Zoro was at the top end of the " _Reactions to Luffy the Vampire Chart_ ", and Usopp was the bottom. They wanted to be like Zoro. In this situation, it was made clear that Luffy was very important to Zoro, since Zoro would never have let any other crew member feed on him. He'd stick his sword in front of your throat at the mere suggestion.

As they got closer to the island, the crew became more stressed and nerve wracked. If Luffy couldn't be turned back to normal, then Luffy would stay a vampire, staying the same age while they aged and not being able to be outside at all during the day. How could someone be a pirate when they can't leave their ship? Luffy would not be able to go on adventures anymore. Could he really achieve his dream to be the pirate king? They didn't want to answer, but most of them, deep down, thought that Luffy would no longer be able to reach the dream he held so dear. Of course this thought was bothering Luffy the most. He knew he wouldn't be able to continue life as a pirate, let alone as a captain, if he couldn't go outside.

Usopp was still having trouble with Luffy being a vampire. No one missed the fact that he never sat next to Luffy, and tried to not look at him. Luffy didn't miss his behavior either, but acted (he should have been a professional his acting had improved so much) like he couldn't tell. Robin and Zoro, or course, were able to see the slight trembling of his bottom lip everytime Usopp hurried away from him. Luffy had a terrible feeling that if he were to stay a vampire, Usopp would be the first to leave the crew, like he did in Water 7. But this was very different than a fight over a dying ship.

He didn't know if the others would leave, except for Zoro and Robin who were his saviors. He knew they would be with him till the end. Well, their end. Luffy was going to stay young forever… what a terrible thought.

Zoro was furious with Usopp every time he avoided Luffy, and let him know it. One day, Zoro cornered Usopp and chewed him out, pulling out his swords and threatening to cut him into pieces if he didn't make up with Luffy. This made Usopp cry, whether in fear of Zoro, fear of Luffy, or guilt, Zoro didn't know and didn't care; he had felt no sympathy. He sheathed his swords and walked away, leaving Usopp in the hallway by himself.

But even after this, Usopp still avoided Luffy, who had stopped trying to interact with him at all. It hurt too much to see him openly reject his company over and over. Usopp didn't even try lying anymore. At least in the beginning, he would say excuses like having to go to the bathroom or invent something. Once, Luffy had asked if he could bring an invention inside for him to see, but before Usopp could even lie, he automatically shouted "NO!" and ran away. Luffy had been left there, the only one in the room at the time, one hand reaching out, mouth gaping with shock and hurt. That was when Luffy stopped even trying. He had given up. It was a lost cause. He had tried so many times, but hadn't changed anything. Even though Usopp was a good liar, he was not good at hiding his emotions with said lies. Sometimes he was an open book. For once, that was a bad thing. At least for Luffy.


	9. The Reunion With Mystery Girl

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry it's taken so damn long to finish this one.

Luffy had been feeding on Zoro twice a week for two weeks, and he was now able to stay in the sun longer. Someone was always with him in case he somehow started getting burnt without realizing it was happening, since he became immobile in the sunlight if he gets too burned like he was in the water. 

Chopper would come to play with him in his 10 minutes of sunshine, usually playing tag for as long as Luffy was able, but it wasn’t the same without Usopp. Chopper had gotten better about being in Luffy’s company, but despite Luffy being weakened in the light, still liked another person being out with them. Sometimes Luffy would go fishing, something he’d missed doing, but he couldn't catch anything in a measly 10 minutes. 

They were a day away from the wretched island that turned Luffy’s life not only upside down, but threw it violently side to side. He couldn’t wait to be able to beat that stupid girl and her friends to a pulp, vampire or not. He wanted revenge on the Mystery girl and to be human again. He missed being outside in sunlight, his natural enemy, so these 10 minutes a day were heaven. He really regretted waiting for so long to tell his crew and start heading back to that island; the journey was taking too long for his liking. The ring seemed to still be working well. The smell of blood hadn’t come back and he was in complete control of his hunger. 

Zoro was with him today, sitting against the railing next to Luffy, who was still trying to catch something, anything. He felt so useless lately. If they were attacked by pirates of marines, his crew would be on their own. He would be inside, waiting and hoping an enemy would come in and let him blow off some steam. 

Zoro noticed Luffy starting to sizzle on a small spot on his arm, but knew Luffy wanted to stay for as long as he could. But when his whole arm started to sizzle, and his face had the expression of hidden pain, Zoro told him to go inside or he’d carry him back. Luffy grumbled as he threw down his fishing pole and practically ran back into the kitchen. 

That night, dinner was quiet. Everyone was nervous about reaching the island. Not just because they would be up against at least one vampire, but they also might learn that there was no way for Luffy to be human again. Luffy didn’t even eat all of his chocolate ice cream, but the crew couldn’t blame him. It would be a harsher blow to him than the rest of the crew if he were to be a vampire forever, always isolated from the world.

After the table was clean of food and silverware, they began to plan what they would do tomorrow night, since Luffy couldn’t come with them if they went during the day. 

Franky and Nami were going to stay on the ship, and they didn’t even need to acknowledge that Usopp would not be going with them; if he couldn’t handle his friend being a good vampire, how could he handle one or more bad vampires? The plan was for Luffy and Zoro to lure them out and confront them while Robin stayed with Chopper and Sanji. Robin would have an eye and ear on the front of Zoro’s haramaki, and once she told Sanji that she saw them the group of three would circle behind them, as far away as possible using Chopper’s nose to keep them away from any suspicious smells associated with vampires. Luffy had a unique smell, so Chopper thought he’d be able to tell when a vampire was near or had been. 

Once they were behind where the confrontation was, Robin would continue to monitor the situation, and the three would act accordingly. They would be betting (and hoping) that the vampire(s) would retreat back. That’s when the three would attack. Chopper would have a few Rumble Balls with him as he needs some way to be on both offense and defense considering he had insisted on coming because he’s the doctor, and if someone got injured, vampire present or not, he would help. 

No one had argued when Zoro said he would go fight with Luffy; it just made sense that way, they fought together well. They were all positive that, considering how the Mystery girl acted in the first place, Luffy had told them, there would be a battle. They were not expecting to have a civil conversation, but would have to force information out of them. No one wanted to think that both options could fail and one, or that all of them, could be killed...

Luffy slept in the aquarium so he could sleep in without having to get up early to exit the men’s room before the sun rose. The rest of the crew besides Franky, Nami and Usopp also slept in, readying themselves for the fight. The crew was worried about waking up their captain; just let him sleep a little longer. They didn't know it would have been a mercy for him to have woken up earlier; he was plagued with a nightmare, the first since he started wearing the sea prism ring. The entire crew died at the hands of the Mystery girl and her face-less comrades while he watched. The worst part was that as his crew bled out, he was feeling hungrier and hungrier and just before he woke up, he ran over to their corpses to feed off their dying blood. 

Luffy woke from the nightmare with a gasp, fumbling with the ring on his finger. He was planning on taking it off for the battle, since he was strong with it on it made sense that he would be even stronger with it off. He just hoped he didn't need to have it off for too long before the situation was resolved. 

The crew was even tenser during their late breakfast than they were the night before. Luffy didn’t speak at all, not noticing his crew kept sneaking concerned glances in his direction. The food tasted like cardboard to them, even to Sanji who had worked hard to make a nutritious breakfast that included all of Luffy’s favorite flavors. 

Zoro pulled Luffy away after the meal was cleaned up and asked him if he needed to feed before hand. Luffy declined the offer, too shaken up by his latest nightmare to even get close to blood. He insisted that, since he fed the day before yesterday, he would be just fine. Zoro didn’t miss that there was another hidden reason but he didn’t pry. It was Luffy’s choice, even if he disagreed with it. 

The moment the sun went down they left the ship, receiving encouraging words from those that would not be participating. Luffy walked right past Usopp and asked Franky to guard the two and the Sunny well. 

Zoro and Luffy walked to where Luffy was turned and used his better senses to follow the scent from there; vampires had a very strong scent apparently. It wasn’t very pleasant, and he hoped he hadn’t smelled bad to Chopper all this time. They arrived at the alleyway, trying their best to stay out of people's way, and hoping to find the vampire somewhere less populated with innocent human bystanders. 

They arrived at an abandoned warehouse complex; it was quite large. Luffy told Zoro the smell was strong all around them. It was a nasty smell, like rotten food. He was sure hoped he didn’t smell like this...He didn’t want to know if something was actually rotten was hidden somewhere. 

“Mystery girl! Come out! Remember me?!” Luffy called. His voice echoed loudly in the empty space separating two sets of warehouses, maybe a place used for when warehouses had been filled. Nobody answered. 

Luffy stood with his jaw set, a look of utter rage and defiance on his face, Zoro was blank faced beside him with his hand on his swords. Luffy expanded his senses all around him, for the first time testing what he could do as a vampire. He could hear the wind blowing and smell the rotten food. Nothing moved. They waited. 

Robin, Sanji and Chopper stayed near the ship while Robin watched what was happening with Zoro and Luffy, waiting to see what was going to happen. Where they were going to go depended on which direction the vampires’ backs were turned. Sanji and Chopper guarded Robin, who had her eyes closed and arms crossed, anxiously waiting to see what was going to happen next from Zoro and Luffy’s front.

Luffy and Zoro waited for ten minutes before Luffy stiffened, notifying Zoro that they were near. He pulled out Wado a few inches with his right hand after tying his black bandana around his forehead. Luffy readjusted his hat, still wearing the defiant expression, his lip curling up in one corner. These vampires smelled like what he would imagine old, crusty blood would smell like. Do they drink from dead bodies? When Luffy fed off Zoro, this smell was never present. He was surprised he could even smell it since he was still wearing his sea prism ring which dulled his senses a bit. He vowed to not take it off until the last second since Zoro, a human, was near him and he didn’t want to risk anything happening. 

Mystery girl walked out of the shadows, holding a human arm. It was pale and completely drained of blood. Luffy tried to not flinch at the sight, while Zoro wore a neutral face; he had seen much worse, hell he had done worse, though maybe not as disturbing as a severed hand sucked of blood. After Mystery girl exited the shadows she tossed the arm to the side, already forgotten. 

“Hey little vampire. Looks like your crew stayed with you after all. Hehe, I bet there was still some trouble. So, how do you like being a vampire?” Mystery girl asked in a mocking voice. Luffy tried not to snarl at her. “What are you here for?”

“I want to know how to change back into a human,” Luffy said simply. He narrowed his eyes as she continued to be silent.

“Why?” she asked, faking being confused. “Don’t you like being super strong? Don’t you enjoy having stronger senses?” she giggled at Luffy’s angry expression.

“No! I want to be in the sunlight without cooking, I don’t want to drink blood, I don’t want my crew to hate me, now TELL ME HOW TO TURN BACK!” Luffy shouted, his voice rising higher with each angry word. 

The four other vampires behind her laughed obnoxiously; three men and one young woman. 

One man said in a deep voice, “The sun is trivial. Why is your crew even alive? Gahahahaha! I killed my friends the day I was turned. It felt wonderful! The splatter of blood against the walls, the crunch of bone, the screams! Oh, the screams; I will never forget those beautiful sounds! Why would you want to change back into a weakling human when you can do so much more?!” Then the man laughed again, throwing his head back. Luffy growled under his breath, fiddling with his ring, dying to take it off and kill them, but no, he had to try and get answers first. 

“I would never kill my friends! Now tell me how to change back!” Luffy shouted. Zoro stood impassively next to him, hand still on his swords. 

“Give me a reason why I should help you? Can’t you see how happy we are? You can be like us, and run around this town full of humans, satisfying your hunger whenever you please! This is the proper life of a vampire, the right one! You are unnatural, but you can still be saved. Come on, come join us,” Mystery girl said, her arms open wide, an attempt at seeming welcoming. 

“No! Tell me and I won’t kill you!” Zoro looked at Luffy, brows furrowed. Luffy had never threatened an enemy with death before. 

The vampires did not like this. A newborn, threatening to kill them? How absurd and disrespectful! Well then, it was time to teach him who was boss in the vampire world here. Mystery girl looked to the others behind her, sharing a look of excitement and insanity. That’s the only way to describe the glint in their eyes as they bared their teeth. She turned back around, facing Zoro and Luffy in a crouch, canines extended. Zoro pulled out his swords and Luffy pulled off his sea prism ring and stuck it in his pocket, buttoning it so there was no chance for it to fall out. 

As soon as he took the ring off, everything came into sharper focus. He could see and smell more clearly. He jumped away from Zoro, knowing he could now smell his blood. Zoro didn’t make any reaction, yet understood the reason Luffy jumped away. He jumped far and fast. Since it was quite obvious they wouldn’t be getting any answers civilly, the battle began.


	10. Luffy's Fatal Distraction

Robin watched the battle start from in front of the ship, and told Sanji and Chopper it was time to go. Sanji was a bit upset when she informed him that they may not fight at all; the vampires didn't seem like the type to retreat from a fight. They seemed like foolhardy people who would take death before shaming their pride. 

 

The three walked on the outskirts of the town, asking a vendor for a map of the island, hoping to make the short journey easier. The man agreed and drew them a crude map, writing “don’t go here” around a bunch of squares; they could only assume that was the the abandoned warehouse area where Zoro and Luffy were engaged in battle.

 

Franky was keeping lookout in the crows nest, Nami staring over the side of the ship nervously. She was telling herself Luffy would come back with a solution or already be human again. She didn't want to think of how Luffy might suffer indoors the rest of his long life. The crew would fall apart, and things would never be the same. She also wanted Usopp, who was standing near the tangerine trees, to stop acting how he had been acting for the last couple weeks. She had to agree with the times Zoro called him an asshole, or worse. It was wrong for him to be like that towards Luffy. Zoro had insisted that Usopp should be kicked out of the crew for good because he had basically mutinied their captain. He wouldn’t do what Luffy had asked, even simple things that wouldn’t matter to those other than Luffy, Chopper and Usopp. He also ignored him, and ran away from him whenever he was able. His way of hiding from Luffy was usually leaving the indoors and going outside where Luffy couldn't follow. The crew had been staying inside as much as they could to help Luffy through the loneliness. They all only went outside when Luffy was taking a nap, which were no longer guarded by Robin.  

 

Luffy punched one of the vampire men, the one who had killed his friends, right in the face. The guy’s nose broke, and didn’t heal. Luffy was told mockingly that wounds from vampires to other vampires heal slowly when Luffy was cut on his chest by dodging too late from the mystery girl, and by the time a severe wound heals, you’d be dead. Luffy told Mystery girl he wouldn’t let any of them touch him, but he had nicks all over his arms. They weren’t bad enough to worry about; he had been stabbed before. He then punched his opponent in the throat, sending the man to his knees. Luffy ran to him and shattered the bone in his arm, causing the vampire to let out an unmanly scream. Luffy decided he was done with this guy for now, and turned to see Zoro overwhelming a woman vampire, but not Mystery girl. Luffy was thankful they hadn’t brought Sanji; he would have been useless against this woman. Zoro ended up cutting her arms off, making the girl shriek out in pain and retreat. Well, now Robin, Sanji and Chopper had someone to fight.

 

Robin told the other two a very wounded vampire woman was coming their way. She insisted that the woman was ugly to Sanji. He was very shallow. Chopper went into horn point and waited for the woman to come. The woman was unaware of the three, too distracted by the pain, Robin grabbed her legs with arms bloomed on the ground. Chopper held her down with his horns as Robin clutched her, breaking her neck. The vampire died instantly. Sanji cringed; yes she was a vampire, but she was also a young woman. 

 

“Well that was easy,” Robin mused, going over to inspect the body, making sure not to touch her. 

 

Franky looked away from the window in the crows nest for a split second and heard Nami scream. When he looked out the window she wasn’t on the ship anymore. He climbed down the ladder as fast as he could and ran to the side of the ship, Nami was no longer in sight. 

 

“Usopp! Where’s Nami?!” Franky shouted as he ran over to him.He was irritated when he saw Usopp was unconscious. He had been so useless lately. Franky had been thinking about kicking him off the ship along with Zoro. 

 

Franky slapped Usopp across the face, waking him up. Usopp blinked quickly and screamed at Franky about how a vampire jumped up and took Nami so fast he could barely see it. Then he began to cry about his uselessness. Franky told Usopp to stay on the ship, and left to find Nami. Of course Franky got lost; he had no map and couldn't exactly follow a scent. 

 

Luffy kicked the second man in the stomach, the woman and friend-killer already out of commision. He hoped Robin’s group took care of her okay. Zoro had been fighting Mystery girl, neither him nor Luffy noticing that the third man had left. Mystery girl put up a good fight, using her legs to kick away the sword attacks, her legs were as strong as Sanjis. Zoro was able to cut her a few times, but she would jump back a few feet and heal herself. The only solution he could come up with to kill her was cutting her head off, but she knew that and blocked accordingly. Her fingernails, elongated and sharp, were becoming a problem. They cut his arm a few times, making him bleed rather heavily but not enough to hinder him in any way anytime soon. 

 

Luffy was going to a gomu gomu rifle to his opponents face when his nose was assaulted with a strong smell. It smelled so good. He stopped moving and looked behind him, where the source of the smell was. He was horrified to see that the vampire no one had noticed left had returned with Nami trapped between his arms, her arm bleeding heavily. Mystery girl and friend-killer, who had gotten up quicker than Luffy had expected, began to laugh. Luffy pinched his nose closed and hunched over.

 

“Oi, Luffy what’s wrong?!” Zoro called a few yards away, distracted along with Mystery girl by Luffy’s behaviour, the only difference was that he was concerned and the other was hysterically laughing, like she was told the funniest joke in the world.

 

“Do you smell something good, little vampire? Is your throat burning? Is your head getting cloudy? Seems you haven’t fed in a while. Are you getting tired, too? If you had joined us, you might have gotten complete control over your hunger, but it seems somehow all of your hunger for blood has been building up. Poor boy. Do you want to kill her? Do you want to rip out her neck and drink her blood?” Mystery girl mocked, and Zoro understood what was happening. 

 

“Luffy, put on the ring!” Zoro shouted, Wado having been taken out of his mouth, eyes wide, knowing that Luffy’s biggest fear might come to pass. Luffy nodded and fumbled for the ring in his pocket, but once he got it out he dropped it. It rolled away, and as he lunged for it, the ring fell through the gap in the bars leading the sewer.

 

“No! Shit shit shit SHIT!” Luffy practically sobbed. His throat hurt right now more than it had that day when he first tasted Zoro’s blood. Luffy stuffed his fingers through the metal vent and tried to search through the puddles, but couldn’t find the ring, let alone pick it up since it would negate his strength and powers. 

 

Nami was passed out in her captor’s arms, losing a lot of blood.

 

“Luffy!” Zoro screamed as Mystery girl took advantage of Luffy’s momentary distraction and got behind him, plunging her arm through Luffy’s back and out through his stomach, causing blood to spray everywhere.

 

“LUFFY!”

 


	11. Chapter 11

**I love me some angst! Last chapter finally after forgetting over and over I never finished the story on here. Anyways, for anyone who waited, I'm sorry. Enjoy~**

 

Robin gasped, her eye disappearing off Zoro. Her eyes were wide and she was visibly shaking, worrying both Sanji and Chopper. Robin was usually so calm. What could make her so freaked out?

 

“What is it, Robin-chan?” Sanji asked hesitantly. 

 

“We need to go to where Swordsman-san and Captain-san are,” she said and started running in the direction the map showed the warehouse area was supposed to be. Sanji and Chopper followed, Chopper on all fours, his small backpack jostling on his shoulder blades. 

 

“Luffy!” Zoro shouted as Luffy spit up blood and fell onto his stomach, not moving. Mystery girl laughed as Luffy stilled. He stopped breathing, meaning he was either dead or unconscious. Zoro hoped to a god he didn't believe in that it was the latter, but he was still disturbed. His bandana shadowed his eyes as he put Wado back in his mouth. He would have to take care of them quickly so he could get to Luffy as fast as he could, but only a small part of his brain was thinking rationally. He wanted to make these freaks suffer as they made Luffy suffer all this time.

 

He ran to Mystery girl and the battle began again, only he was pushing her this time. She swallowed and after a couple minutes of nearly losing, she decided to retreat, but Zoro was too fast and finally cut her head off. He wasn’t satisfied. There were still three others. He went after the one with Nami as a hostage and made quick work of him then easily killed the shaken friend-killer and the one who barely fought. Zoro stood there, panting for a second with vampire blood staining his white shirt. He had been messy. 

 

His mind cleared eventually and he ran to Luffy. He got on his knees and turned Luffy onto his back. He was as pale as he had been that day Zoro found him drained of blood, only the blood was coming from a definable source this time; a messy, large hole in his gut. It was starting to heal, but at the rate he was losing blood, he had minutes left.

 

“Luffy! Luffy, c’mon buddy, wake up. Come on! You can’t die, we still haven’t turned you back!” Zoro shouted. Luffy’s eyes opened, but were a little foggy. He tried to smile, but it just made more blood spill over his lips. 

 

“So- sorry. I couldn’t- turn back anyway… you killed the- them a- all,” Luffy chuckled brokenly. “I tho- thought we could win…” he paused for a moment, but continued, “I wonder… if I will I go somewhere or be- be damned?” Luffy tried to laugh but all that came was a gurgling noise in his throat. 

 

“You’re not going anywhere! You’re staying right here. Being a vampire is better than being dead, right?! Just wait, it- it will heal and we’ll find another way to fix you!” Zoro insisted, trying not to cry. He didn't cry in front of other people.

 

“I’m sor-sorry...You were a g-good First Mate… Tell them I’m no-not mad… at dem...” Luffy slurred. “Take c’r ov dem...I know oo c’n do it…”  Zoro tore his wrist open with his teeth and poured the blood over Luffy’s mouth. He had to try to save him! He kept him alive all this time, and now he couldn’t save him at the moment he was needed the most?! 

 

Luffy smiled one last time and sighed out his last breath. His body relaxed and his head tilted to the side, facing away from Zoro’s chest. Zoro screamed Luffy’s name one last time, begging for this to not be real. When he received no answer, he sat back on his heels, stunned and broken, still supporting Luffy’s body in his arms and lap. Had he really died? Luffy had been through tougher situations, right?! He couldn’t die in this way, distracted by some stupid blood, right?! That reminded Zoro of Nami’s condition, but as he looked, he saw Robin’s group running over. 

 

Sanji and Chopper shouted Nami’s name, not seeing Zoro was holding a dead Luffy. Robin ran to Zoro and Luffy, tears pricking her eyes. She fell to her knees and sat in shock for a moment before gently closed Luffy’s large brown eyes, the boy still wearing a small smile. 

 

Once Chopper cleaned Nami’s arm with an antiseptic and wrapped it in a bandage, he saw Robin and Zoro kneeling next to something, out of view from behind. 

 

“LUFFY!!!” Chopper screamed, running to the three and standing to the side of the dead Luffy. He started to sob and wail about how useless he was. He laid his upper body against Luffy and cried unintelligible words. Sanji carried Nami over, who was finally starting to wake up. Sanji almost dropped her in shock. There was no way Luffy would lose, right? But he didn’t just lose the fight... he  _ died _ . It was inconceivable. Nami screamed in his arms, and started to sob, just like Chopper. Sanji closed his eyes, trying to not cry as best he could. Robin had slow silent tears going down her face. Zoro was still in shock, not giving any reaction. 

 

After a while of immediate mourning, the group started the slow journey to take their captain’s…  _ body _ back to the ship. He was so still in Zoro’s arms, like he was sleeping, but there was some difference. They would have known he was dead, even if they hadn’t seen the blood, that he was not just sleeping without breathing. Other than Robin and Zoro, the group felt immense guilt about their interactions with Luffy near his end. They had treated him like a monster, and though they tried their best not to, they were still different around him. 

 

They found Franky asking a vendor for a map of the island when he looked up and saw Luffy lying in Zoro’s arms, his head tilted to the side, hands resting on his bloody stomach, while revealing his small dying smile. Franky burst into tears, not even attempting to deny them. 

 

Then there were six straw hats, and their lost captain. 

 

Once they got to the Sunny, Robin lifted Luffy’s body up onto the ship with a ladder-like line of arms. The first thing Usopp saw of the crew was Luffy’s bloody body lifted over the edge and gently set down before the arms disappeared. Usopp’s mouth opened in horror. The rest of the crew followed up the rope ladder, Chopper and Nami’s faces were splotchy and red. 

 

Zoro carried Luffy onto the grassy deck and sat down with him, smoothing his hair back. Robin sat next to him and put her hand on Zoro’s shoulder. The rest of the crew stayed away and gave them a moment to mourn their best friend. Who was going to depend on them now? They had gotten used to the idea of taking care of someone, and they had enjoyed it. Now they both felt alone.

 

The crew sat with Luffy’s body, occasionally running their hand  gently down his face or playing with his hair. No one noticed that his body didn’t burn once the sun came up.

 

Nobody even looked at Usopp. It wasn’t entirely on purpose, they just didn’t notice him crying against the railing a ways away, dead on the inside with guilt and self-hatred. Part of Zoro didn't even want Usopp near his captain’s body. He didn’t deserve to see Luffy’s body. In his opinion, Luffy stopped being Usopp’s captain long ago, when Usopp erased their friendship and abandoned his respect for him. 

 

When Zoro gave the crew Luffy’s dying words, the crying got louder and more intense. Chopper and Franky were wailing louder than anyone had heard before, Nami was making choking noises, Sanji was sitting next to her with a pained expression. Usopp was still a little ways off, crying and feeling like those words were mainly for him. 

 

Nobody noticed the color coming back into Luffy’s face, or the slow beating of his heart. But after a while, Chopper heard very shallow breathing. He didn't know who it was coming from until he saw Luffy’s mouth open a centimeter.

 

“Zoro! Lu-Luffy is breathing!” Chopper exclaimed. Zoro was still holding on to him. He had been so lost in grief and shock and self-hatred for not protecting him that he hadn’t noticed. Chopper put his hoove Luffy’s neck and felt the pulse. He was alive! But his wound was still gruesome. It had healed some, without them noticing since his entire abdomen was caked in dried brown blood, but it was still a bad wound. 

 

“Swordsman-san, did anything strange happen when Captain-san was… killed?” It was strangely hard for Robin to be her usual blunt self. She was trying to calm the rising wave of hope present in her voice.

 

“He was pale and lost all of his blood, then I tried feeding him as a last resort… but he shouldn’t be alive! He was run through his gut!” Zoro said, feeling frustrated and confused. Luffy died in his arms! So how is he alive? He was trying his best to not get his hopes up, because he would be crushed all over again if Luffy didn’t stay alive. He could die any moment with that wound. It had killed him before, it could end his life again. This time permanently. 

 

“That’s it! I think Captain-san is alive again because the opposite of turning someone into a vampire was done. Yes, Captain-san was drained of blood, like last time, but when he was turned, he was given the blood of a vampire. Swordsman-san is a human. The process was performed in the opposite. That should mean that Captain-san should be human again,” Robin concluded.

 

Nami said, “And he’s not burning in the sunlight! How did we not notice that? And it looks like the wound has healed some. Chopper, can you fix the rest?”

 

“I have to and I will!” Chopper said forcefully. He told Zoro to take Luffy to the infirmary. Robin followed both and the barely alive now human Luffy that was still relaxed in Zoro’s arms. His smile had slipped when he had started to breath slow, shallow breaths. Robin and Zoro didn’t leave the room as surgery was attempted. The wound was difficult to fix, given that it was healing while he worked, throwing Chopper off. He eventually just did first aid after working on fixing it for a couple hours. He felt a bit sad that Luffy had healed himself somehow, and not really by Chopper.

 

The days after Luffy was healed were filled with celebration, and mainly chocolate for Luffy. That effect was the only one that had not seemed to go away, even though he was human now. Luffy had fun telling the crew about the fight, except the ending. He told them that after he had “died” he could hear all of them and thanked them for being sad, which made them all feel a bit awkward. He told them he felt like they didn’t like him as much as they used to, which earned a few physical blows and tongue lashings. 

The crew had all sincerely apologized for their behaviors towards Luffy when he was a vampire (the word “was” sounded great) because they realized how much it had hurt him. He waved them off, saying that it was fine. They had nothing to apologize for since most people would be scared of a vampire. 

 

Usopp’s reaction to Luffy was a little harder to resolve.With the others, he easily forgave them because they had tried their best to be normal around him, and even though they weren’t good at it, they still tried. And that meant a great deal to Luffy. Usopp, on the other hand, seemed to have made no effort to be around Luffy. He had outright rejected him because of something Luffy couldn't control and wanted to be over. Usopp had acted scared, but he obviously didn't realize how much more scared Luffy was. It was his body and life that had been affected the most. If Usopp had realized that, things might be different. Yet Usopp only thought of himself, and didn't even think about how Luffy felt. 

 

It was obvious that Usopp knew how much he was hurting Luffy near the end, and was crushed when he saw his dead body. But again, he hadn’t tried. It would be hard to be as close as they were before, but eventually Usopp apologized; there was a lot of snot involved. Hopefully it would be the start of mending the gigantic and serrated rift that had split open between them.

 

Robin and Zoro were thanked over and over for helping him stay sane throughout the experience.  Robin said she owed him her life many times over and was an important person to him, so of course she would help him. This made Luffy blush. Zoro said he did all of this because it was his duty as first mate, but Luffy knew it was also because he was his best friend; Zoro just felt awkward about stating things like that.  Both of them also told him he would do the same, and Luffy had to agree that he would do for any of them what Zoro did for him. He was just happy everything was back to how it should be. It was lucky he was turned back on accident. 

 

Once the Sunny had left the island to restart its journey to Fishman Island, things got back to normal, but a strong bond had formed between Luffy, Zoro and Robin. They still talked together and hung out, although there was no massive secret to hide anymore. 

 

Almost a week after Luffy was turned human again, he asked Zoro to come talk to him in the aquarium, which had become Luffy’s favorite part of the ship. 

 

“I’m sorry you had to see me die. And then I put so much pressure on you to be captain. I was reckless and dropped that damn ring and then because of that you had to brutally chop off people's’ heads. Thank you for saving me again. I’ll repay you some day for all you have done for me. I swear it. I’ll help make you become the greatest swordsman in the world. I promise,” Luffy finished fiercely. 

 

Throughout Luffy’s hurried speech, Zoro stared at the sea with a small smirk on his face. “Luffy, those vampires were asking for it. Even if they hadn’t… killed you, I would have taken care of them. I don’t regret it or blame you for anything that happened. I did what I was supposed to do as first mate and close friend. As long as I’m around, you won’t need to go through anything alone, captain. This whole thing even made me think of Robin as more than ‘that woman’. I liked helping you and sharing a secret with you and Robin. It kept things interesting, though I would have enjoyed it a bit more if it wasn’t hurting you or messing with your life. I know if I ever turn into a vampire, you will have my back,” Zoro was quiet for a moment, and then continued. “I am glad that you won’t have to drink my blood anymore. As well as I was making it seem like I didn’t mind, your teeth fucking hurt. Not a pleasant feeling, though I’d do it again for you in a heartbeat. And I will do my best as captain if anything happens to you. Then I’d finally be able to put that Love-Cook in his place,” he finished, narrowing his eyes in hate for the man. 

 

Luffy smiled. “Thank you, Zoro. Besides, I can’t see you as a vampire. You would make a good werewolf, though. Neehee,” Luffy giggled as he jumped up to go to the next person he needed to thank, leaving Zoro unsure whether he had just been insulted or not.  

 

Robin was in the library when Luffy found her. He plopped down onto the couch where he had napped a few times a day and smiled at her. She looked up from her book and smiled back.

 

“What can I help you with, Captain-san?” she asked pleasantly, closing her book and gently setting it on her table. 

 

“Why did you help me? You said it was because you cared about me. Is that the real reason?” Luffy asked.

 

“Yes,” she answered immediately. “At first, I spied on you two because I was interested and you can say a bit  _ nosy _ . I love learning new things, and your situation was intriguing. But, that was at first. After seeing you cry about having to drink blood, I was no longer interested as a spectator,” Robin said, folding her hands together. “I wanted to help you and have you lean on me as a friend. I felt I had to try and return the favor to you since you have saved me multiple times from myself, though I think I will never be able to fully repay you. It is not like I’ve written a book about you, though it would indeed be an interesting read.” 

 

Luffy was quiet for a moment. “Why didn’t you tell anyone? Zoro said he wanted to be part of a secret because it was fun and he wanted to support me, but I know he also doesn’t like or trust the rest of the crew as much as I do. Did you think it would be best for the whole crew to know?” Luffy questioned, pulling his legs up onto the chair and pressing the soles of his feet together. 

 

“I trusted your judgement and decided to go with your instincts, which are usually correct. If you didn’t want anyone besides myself and Zoro to know, that was your choice and I would respect your decision. Like Zoro said, if you had been subjected to being under the spotlight of being a vampire at the very beginning, things might have gone worse.” Robin looked down at the desk as she said, “Another reason I wanted your secret to stay safe was because of Long nose-kun. I assumed correctly that he could not handle it and hoped that if you had more control of being a vampire, and could prove that you were not what rumors and myths say, things may have gone easier. I was sad to see that what I was thinking would happen did.” 

 

Luffy beamed at her and said thank you, leaving the room to go bug Sanji for chocolate.  _ Again. _ .. Luffy was happy; he was human, his crew was back to normal, and things were looking bright. Even the weather was mirroring Luffy’s happiness. And so the Sunny sailed on.

 

It was time to go back to looking for the One Piece!


End file.
